UCAR Board of Trustees Meeting Site - February 2000
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January 31, 2000 MEMORANDUM
Ladies and Gentlemen: This report covers some of the highlights of UCAR Corporate activities since the October 1999 meetings. Bob Serafin and Jack Fellows provide summaries of NCAR and UCAR Office of Programs (UOP) activities over this period at Serafin's report http://www.dir.ucar.edu/dir/feb00NCAR.html Fellow's report http://www.uop.ucar.edu/botfeb00.html We will try something a bit different in our reports for this Board meeting, in an effort to keep them shorter than in the past. We will provide only brief updates and new information to the comprehensive October reports. Thus, to set the context for these updates, we suggest that you begin by reviewing the October reports: Anthes October 1999 report: http://www.ucar.edu/ucargen/mtgs/oct99/reports/anthes/index.html Serafin October 1999 report: http://www.dir.ucar.edu/dir/Oct99BoT.html Fellows October 1999 report: http://www.uop.ucar.edu/botoct99.html A major activity over the past six months has been the search for a new NCAR Director. In July, shortly after the announcement by Bob Serafin that he intended to step down as NCAR Director, I appointed a Search Committee chaired by NCAR Senior Scientist Joe Klemp. Other members of the Search Committee are Dave Burridge, Edna Comedy, Len Fisk, Michael Knölker, and Paola Rizzoli. A comprehensive web site http://www.ucar.edu/ucargen/director/index.html was established for the search, including a description of the duties of the Director, a complete job description and statement of qualifications, application information, names and addresses of the search committee members, and links to relevant NCAR and UCAR web pages. I sent e-mail messages to over 1,200 individuals, including all UCAR employees, Member Representatives, Academic Affiliates, Trustees, Committee Members, and correspondents who receive UCAR publications. The e-mail message invited recipients to provide comments on qualities and qualifications that UCAR should seek in a new NCAR Director. It also asked recipients to nominate persons for the position, and referred them to the Director Search web site. I met with the executive committee of the NCAR Senior Scientist Assembly, at which time several nominations were discussed. Klemp and I held open meetings at the Foothills and Mesa Labs for all interested staff to discuss the process and to solicit views on qualities and scientific visions that staff would like to see in a Director. I also met with the NSF ATM Program Directors to discuss the selection process and to seek input from the Directors. As a result of these outreach activities, 76 individuals were nominated. A number of them were nominated by more than one person. The Search Committee selected a subset of 33 nominees that would be contacted in person or by telephone by the members of the committee and urged to apply for the position. Letters were sent to 24 nominees who had been contacted and had expressed some interest in the position. Letters were also sent by the Search Committee to the remaining 37 nominees, notifying them that they had been nominated, and inviting them to apply if interested. In addition to the direct nomination process, advertisements were published in the Chronicle of Higher Education, the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, EOS, Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education, Black Issues in Higher Education, and the Association for Women in Science. In addition, an advertisement was listed on the NSF web position listing. Members of the Search Committee and I made personal contacts with leading female scientists in the atmospheric and related sciences, encouraging them to apply. The Search Committee received 25 actual applications for the position. Of these, three were determined to be not qualified, leaving an applicant pool of 22. Seventeen of these 22 were nominees who had received letters, and nine of these applicants were among those personally called by a committee member. The committee reviewed 22 applications, rating each applicant against the specific qualifications and requirements of the published job description. As a result, nine applicants were advised that they were among the top candidates for the position, and were asked to respond in writing to a set of questions provided by the committee to gain further information about the candidates. Two applicants who were asked to respond to the questions withdrew from consideration. The committee rated the candidates, and selected five candidates to be interviewed. The committee conducted five interviews. A set of questions to be asked of each candidate was prepared for these sessions, in order to provide a degree of uniformity in the interviews. The committee met after the last interview, and selected candidates deemed most highly qualified to be finalists. At the time of this writing, discussions are underway with the leading candidate, Dr. Tim Killeen of the University of Michigan. I will update the Trustees on the status of the search at the February meeting. 1.0 UCAR Corporate Activities 1.1 The U.S. and NCAR supercomputing situation As described in recent reports to the Trustees, over the past five years UCAR has been deeply involved in the issue of supercomputers in the U.S. Since antidumping tariffs effectively prohibit NCAR from buying foreign computers, our strategy has been to aggressively pursue U.S.-made computers and to adapt our codes to run on these architectures. NCAR’s acquisition of a new IBM RS/6000 SP system in August 1999 is a major step forward in meeting the needs of the UCAR community. This system, named "Blackforest," is five times larger and twenty times more powerful than the system made popular during "Deep Blue’s" historic 1997 victory over world chess champion Garry Kasparov. It delivers a peak speed of approximately 200 gigaflops, more than doubling NCAR’s previous supercomputer capacity. This speed corresponds to an Rmax value of 167 and moves NCAR from 143rd to 57th on the top 500 list (Appendix). 1.2 Data Issues
A number of international and national issues regarding the ownership, use and exchange of scientific data continue to concern the UCAR community. For background on these issues and how they relate to the academic community, please see my October 1999 report http://www.ucar.edu/ucargen/mtgs/oct99/reports/anthes/index.html 1.2.1 U.S. data base protection legislation Two database bills were introduced this past session: The Collections of Information Antipiracy Act Judiciary bill (H.R. 354), and the Consumer and Investor Access to Information Act of 1999 (H.R. 1858). As you may recall, academic institutions are concerned that new database protections would limit access to research information. H.R. 1858 is much more favorable to the academic community than is H.R. 354. Neither bill made it to the House floor for a vote this past session, however, H.R. 354 is expected to appear as an agenda item very early in the second session of the 106th Congress. We will track this and will issue an "action alert" if appropriate. 1.2.2 Accessibility of Federally-funded Data-Update on Circular A-110 legislation My October report discusses the so-called Shelby amendment which had the potential result of requiring federally-funded researchers to make available their raw, prepublication data to anybody who requests it under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The bill language called on the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to revise OMB regulations "to require Federal agencies to ensure that all data produced under a Federal award will be made available to the public through the procedures established under FOIA. During 1999 OMB invited the community to comment on their proposed revision to OMB Circular A-110, ``Uniform Administrative Requirements for Grants and Agreements With Institutions of Higher Education, Hospitals, and Other Non-Profit Organizations''. I wrote two letters expressing UCAR’s concerns; these are available at http://www.ucar.edu/pres/interest.html. The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued its final revisions to Circular A-110 in the October 8 Federal Register. These final revisions to Circular A-110 have been generally accepted by leaders in the scientific community, as well as by Senator Shelby (R-AL). The OMB revisions drastically reduce the impact of the original amendment, in that only data used "in developing an agency action that has the force and effect of law" may be subject to a FOIA request. OMB received over 3000 comments to the August draft, in addition to the 9000 comments received in response to the first draft in February. OMB made a few changes to the final text in response to these comments. For example, the August draft excluded "information which may be copyrighted or patented." However, a number of commenters complained that such language was far too broad, and would cover almost all data. OMB removed that language and replaced it with "similar information which is protected under law." Not included in the text of the August revision, but discussed in the accompanying text, was the idea of applying this revision only to data that support agency actions with an economic impact in excess of $100 million. This idea received many comments of strong support, as well as many in strong opposition. OMB did not include this threshold in its final revisions. OMB also recognized that its earlier revisions did not have a clear reimbursement policy. Explanatory text accompanying the final revision included a clarification that reimbursement to a research institution from an agency for costs associated with FOIA compliance would be a direct payment independent of any other grant or contract between the institution and the agency. The revisions to Circular A-110 became effective on November 8, 1999, and apply to awards issued after that date, as well as to continuing awards that are renewed after that date. Now that OMB has completed its changes to Circular A-110, an implementation policy must now be developed by each federal research agency. While we expect the agencies to work together on this common problem, there may be some differences in the implementation policy at each agency. It is unclear when such policies may be completed, although they will probably need to go through several stages of review and public comment before they are final. Therefore, grantees will likely not receive detailed guidance from the agencies for at least several months. The complete text of the Federal Register notice, including background and explanatory text can be found at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/OMB/fedreg/a110-finalnotice.html
Earlier this year the House Science Committee included language in the NOAA authorization bill, H.R. 1553, that states, "The National Weather Service shall not provide, or assist other entities to provide, a service if that service is currently provided or can be provided by commercial enterprise...." My October report describes UCAR's response to this proposal. The House approved H.R. 1553, but the Senate Committee never held a mark-up on its NOAA authorization bill. The Senate staff drafted a bill that did not include any such restriction on the NWS. In 2000, this issue may come up when the Committee meets to mark-up its bill, known as the "Earth, Wind and Fire Act". If the Senate passes this bill, then the issue will have to be dealt with by the Conference Committee. The Senate committee staff are prepared to oppose the House language in conference, and we are prepared to mount a strong opposition to the language in conference. 2.0 Education Activities 2.1 Project LEARN-Atmospheric Science Explorers LEARN is in its final year of funding from the NSF Teacher Enhancement Program. Since the last summer institute at NCAR, LEARN staff and NCAR scientists Peggy Lemone, Charlie Knight, Barry Lefer, Lee Mauldin have conducted workshops on ozone and research experiences in polar regions for 180 middle-school teachers in eight rural regions in Colorado and a Denver inner-city school with a high at risk student population. LEARN's supplemental proposal for a collaborative project with COMET has been approved by NSF. COMET staff will assist in developing a science education web site based on the LEARN teaching materials. An additional proposal to expand the LEARN training model to include educators and science faculty at academic affiliate institutions is in the preliminary stages. If funded by NSF, this project could start in 2001. 2.2 Informal Science Education Now an annual event, Super Science Saturday is a day of activities at NCAR's Mesa Lab designed to promote public science literacy and enrich the science experiences of area students and teachers. The October 30, 1999 event drew a record crowd of more than 2,000 members of the public. With a Halloween theme NCAR and UOP staff demonstrated "Frighteningly Good Science," including Halloween chemistry. Boulder's Collage Children's Museum, the Wild Bear Nature School, Denver Museum of Natural History, and Science Discovery Program of the University of Colorado hosted activity tables with a "creepy crawly" theme. The NCAR Chromakey exhibit provided visitors the opportunity to perform their own live weathercast on closed circuit TV. Workshops for kindergarten through eighth-grade students offered ideas and methods for creating meaningful science-fair projects, and photography for science. Super Science Saturday was funded in part by Friends of UCAR. 2.3 Exhibits Numerous interactive exhibits in the Mesa Lab lobby demonstrate scientific concepts underlying research and programs at NCAR and UOP. Recent additions include the Wave Tank, which provides hands-on experiences of how fluids flow and how objects create turbulence and flow patterns. The Thunderstorm Detectives exhibit, which was funded by NSF and toured at airports and science museums in the U.S., demonstrates aviation weather monitoring from a simulated air traffic control tower. The new Mesa Lab theater provides visitors glimpses of research, facilities and education programs featured in the Introduction to UCAR and NCAR video. The upcoming release of High Hopes (please see section 5.0) will also be shown in the theater. UCAR’s corporate exhibit has been redesigned to highlight the 40th anniversary and the breadth of programs at UCAR. The exhibit has been displayed at the annual meetings of the Geological Society of America, AMS, and AGU. Upcoming exhibits include AAAS and the National Science Teachers Association. 2.4 Global Change Instruction Program The latest modules, on ozone depletion and weather changes associated with climate change, are now scheduled for publication by University Science Books in February or March 2000. All new modules have been classroom tested, and we continue to distribute drafts to interested classrooms for feedback. The video primer on modeling is under review. 2.5 Science NOW The winter issue of Science NOW was just completed and distributed to approximately 12,000 schools across the country and to several hundred schools in Europe. This atmospheric sciences newsletter for teachers is published as a Roberts Institute project in collaboration with the SirS publishing company in Florida. Copies of the newsletter will be available at the board meeting. 3.0 Corporate Affairs UCAR Corporate Affairs activities include three components: governance, communications and development and government affairs. 3.1 Corporate Affairs Governance Activities UCAR Governance office activities include planning, coordination and support for the Board of Trustees and its Committees, the Annual Members Meeting as well as the meetings of the University Relations Committee, the Membership Committee, and the Nominating Committee. In addition, this office is involved in implementing the upcoming web-based survey of faculty and other community members, and coordinating the re-design of the UCAR website. UCAR governance activities undertaken since the October 1999 meeting have been as follows: The Board of Trustees. Len Fisk (University of Michigan), Chair At the October Annual Meeting, three new members were elected to serve on the Board of Trustees, and two were re-elected by the Members' Representatives. The Board will welcome Charles Kennel (Scripps), Mary Jo Richardson (Texas A&M), and Ron McPherson (AMS) to this first meeting since their election in October. We are also happy to welcome back Otis Brown (U of Miami) and Ron Smith (Yale University) who were both elected to serve for a second term. Planning is beginning for the June meeting of the Board during which there will be a number of activities to mark the 40th anniversary of NCAR and UCAR—one of which will be a visit by NSF Director Rita Colwell. University Relations Committee. Kelvin Droegemeier (University of Oklahoma), Chair The URC met in October immediately following the Annual Members Meeting. As is customary, the Committee reviewed the previous six months of NCAR and UOP non-core funding proposals. The proposals were found to satisfy a set of criteria developed to encourage stronger collaboration with NCAR and UOP and the university community. This review is undertaken also to ensure that there is no unfair competition between the universities and UCAR. The committee also had a lengthy discussion on the diminished state of instrumentation technology and development at universities; ideas such as a traveling instructional classroom, and combining forces with the HIAPER instrument development and other activities at NCAR, were discussed to mitigate the situation. The spring meeting of the URC will be hosted by one of the Academic Affiliate institutions: Millersville University in Millersville, Pennsylvania. The Membership Committee. Mary Jo Richardson (Texas A& M), Chair Universities whose eight-year terms of membership are up for renewal this year are in the process of assembling materials to submit to the Membership Committee for review at their meeting in May. Those universities are: University of Alabama at Huntsville, Drexel University, Iowa State University, New Mexico Institute of Mining an Technology, Ohio State University, Rice University, Stanford University, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, University of Wyoming, and Yale University. In addition, three new universities are applying for UCAR Membership: Arizona State University, Howard University and Rutgers University. 3.2 Communications The new six-minute video introducing NCAR and UCAR has been completed. It is on view for tourists at the Mesa Lab, has been used in our travelling booth at conferences, and has been requested by staff here and at NSF for other outreach purposes. The video recently won an Award of Distinction from the Communicator Awards program. This is a juried awards program and is open to video productions of all kinds. A number of activities are under way in conjunction with the 40th anniversary. • We are planning a "UCAR Highlights"-style booklet outlining the major accomplishments of the institution with emphasis on the past 15 years. The document will feature a timeline and will be illustrated in full color. • Over the next year, the UCAR Quarterly will feature guest columns from prominent members of the community, discussing UCAR’s influence on the atmospheric sciences and on their own careers. • For the turn of the "millennium," Staff Notes became a family album, with formal photographs and informal snapshots of people and programs from the 60s through today. I reappear from 1975 as an intense young visitor from Penn State, and a dapper Bob Serafin stands against a radar backdrop from 1973! • We are supporting NSF’s 50th anniversary by giving guidance to Walt Disney animators creating a 90-minute spot for children on global wind patterns. The segment will feature characters from the Lion King. The seventh volume of ClimateStock was issued on January 5, providing material on Pollution and Climate for weather broadcasters. 3.3 Office of Development and Government Affairs (ODGA) 3.3.1 Congressional Activities UCAR's Congressional activities are accomplished with the involvement and guidance of Lewis-Burke Associates. Advocacy Activities and Correspondence. During the period of Continuing Resolutions regarding FY2000, an Action Alert was sent to the community regarding VA, HUD appropriations (NSF and NASA). I sent letters to VA, HUD Appropriations Subcommittee conferees regarding the FY2001 budget. I also sent end-of-session thank you letters to Appropriations Committee Members and staff and to Colorado Delegation Members and staff. We sent letters of invitation to visit UCAR over winter recess to House and Senate Appropriations staffers (VA, HUD and Commerce). We are now preparing letters requesting time for public testimony at upcoming budget hearings. We forwarded an ESIG paper on fisheries (salmon issues in particular) to appropriate Administration and Congressional Members. We have continued advocacy work on behalf of the NSF, NOAA, NASA, and DOE budgets in addition to programs such as HIAPER and USWRP. We have continued our involvement with the Congressional Natural Hazards Caucus. Jack Fellows, Bob Serafin and I formally replied to NSF's request for comments on the draft NSF Strategic Plan. Visits to UCAR. During the winter recess, several members of the House Science Committee visited the Mesa and Foothills Labs and were briefed on a number of programs. Their particular area of interest was weather aviation hazards research funded by the FAA. Events/Meetings. During the AMS annual meeting, a meeting was held with NOAA Administrator, Jim Baker, and several NOAA program directors concerning the U.S. Weather Research Program (USWRP). On February 11, the Colorado Federal Relations Coordinating Council (CFRCC), including UCAR, will hold a briefing for Colorado Delegation district directors and staff concerning federally funded research facilities located in Colorado. Washington Updates. We distributed six Washington Updates to the UCAR community, including information on continuing resolutions and final budget activities of the first session of the 106th Congress; 3.3.2 Friends of UCAR The Friends of UCAR 40th anniversary fund drive has raised nearly $9,000 toward its $10,000 goal. The funds will be used to support Super Science Saturday, the Mesa Lab Student Art Showcase, the Junior Scientists program (which this fall included a tour of the C-130), and expansion of Web Weather for Kids. Many thanks to those of you who have joined Friends. Contributions from trustees, Member Representatives, staff and others are still most welcome! A brochure for Friends of UCAR can be found at http://www.ucar.edu/friends/ and will be available at the board meeting. 3.3.3 40th Anniversary Activities Web Site. The 40th anniversary web site provides frequently updated information about future and past 40th anniversary activities as well as talks and briefings under the Roberts Forum section. Everyone is invited to submit stories to the Shared Memories page, which already includes some wonderful anecdotes. The site’s location is http://www.ucar.edu/40th/ Web Weather for Kids. Web Weather for Kids has just won a $10,000 award for its innovative design -- The AAAS-Unisys Prize for "outstanding use of the Web as a tool for science investigation." Developed in collaboration with the Science Discovery program of the University of Colorado and the Boulder Valley School District, Web Weather for Kids is on-line at www.ucar.edu/40th/webweather/. The site’s hands-on experiments about thunderstorms, lightning, and tornadoes have been field tested in local 5th grade classes. Web Weather for Kids offers a lively package that includes tips for teachers, science projects for home or school, and ideas on how to form local partnerships between schools and science centers. A novel feature of the site is to challenge children to best the predictions of Denver's 9 NEWS (KUSA-TV) weather anchor Mike Nelson. The forecasting competition will run on school days, from Feb. 8 through Feb. 14, 2000. Each day, based on information from different Web sites, children who enter the on-line contest will predict precipitation and high and low temperatures in the Denver area for the following day. Their predictions will be scored for accuracy and compared with those of Mr. Nelson. "Web Weather for Kids reaches new levels in terms of its contribution to the online education community," said David Curry, vice president for corporate public affairs for Unisys. For the last three years, the Philadelphia-based corporation has been collaborating with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and The Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia to encourage local science centers and museums around the country to help schools become more technologically savvy. We hope you will help spread the word about this event by directing teachers, parents, and students to the web site. Roberts Distinguished Lecture. On October 19, 1999, the second Roberts Distinguished Lecture honored Dr. John Firor at the Boulder Public Library auditorium for his achievements in science and public policy. Former U.S. Senator Tim Wirth, current president of the United Nations Foundation, introduced John whose talk was titled, "From a View of the Grand Canyon to a Vision of Science in the Twenty-first Century". The text of his talk and photos of the event can be found on the Roberts Forum web site at http://www.ucar.edu/40th/Roberts/index.html 40th Commemorative Items. You should have received your gift of a 40th anniversary mug at the October Members Meeting. If you missed the distribution and would like a mug, please contact Susan Foster at susanf@ucar.edu. If you are interested in receiving one of the 40th anniversary waist packs (including water bottle), please contact Susan. A color poster is now available featuring historic photographs and information highlighting HAO’s past 60 years and NCAR’s and UCAR’s past 40 years. All subscribers to UCAR Staff Notes Monthly received a poster in the special 40th Anniversary issue, A Staff Notes Family Album. Copies of the poster will be available at the board meeting. Conference on World Affairs. The anniversaries of NCAR and UCAR will be celebrated by convening two panels on space weather and climate change on April 12 and 13 during the World Affairs Conference at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Due to popular demand, SCD’s Don Middleton will present another visualization program featuring climate models. 40th Anniversary Exhibit. An exhibit designer is under contract and an initial design and content outline are complete for the 40th Anniversary Exhibit slated for opening in the Mesa Lab on June 18. An updated weather kiosk funded by Friends of UCAR has been incorporated into the 40th Anniversary Exhibit. ATD will deliver real-time weather data to the kiosk from instruments on the Mesa Lab roof. It will also outfit the existing PAM station with new instruments and donate an aerosonde to include in the exhibit. June Events. On June 18th, one day before the start of the June UCAR board meeting, the public Bubble and Balloon Festival will be held at the Mesa Lab and the new 40th exhibit will be unveiled. Rita Colwell, NSF director, will participate. On June 19, she will speak with the trustees and will address the staff. During the evening of June 19, she will address the public at Old Main Chapel on the University of Colorado campus just prior to the board reception. Members Meeting Banquet. The 40th anniversary celebrations will come to a close with a banquet during the October 2000 UCAR Member Representatives meeting. 4.0 Finance and Administration 4.1 Y2K-The Non-Event of the "Millennium"! After a significant amount of effort by a large number of people, UCAR made a non-climactic entry into the year 2000. In NCAR SCD and UCAR F&A Information Technology, the comprehensive preparation, testing and upgrading of systems and applications virtually ensured that problems would be minimal -- and they were. There were a few non-critical glitches, but they were easily resolved. In some of the other areas of the organization, it is less clear that the level of preparation effort was necessary. Perhaps the most positive outcome is that virtually all UCAR computers are now under the latest operating system version and release, probably for the first time ever. We also, for the first time, have an up-to-date comprehensive inventory of SCD and administrative computers, from desktop PCs to supercomputers. Our decision to close down the facilities over the Y2K weekend was the prudent thing to do. It created only the most minor irritation to anyone that we know of, and pretty much eliminated concerns about physical security of our facilities, as well as the security of those few people who did have to work over the weekend. In the end, our decision to take a low-key approach to the whole Y2K issue was the appropriate route. 4.2 Boulder Research and Administration Network (BRAN) As reported earlier, the BRAN is an 11-mile fiber optic network that will run through the City of Boulder, linking several major research facilities. Construction, operation and maintenance of the BRAN will be accomplished through a unique partnership between the city of Boulder, the University of Colorado-Boulder, the Department of Commerce Boulder Labs and UCAR. BRAN construction is complete and testing is underway. We expect the BRAN system will be fully operational in March/April of this year, slightly behind schedule. The BRAN network is shown in the map below; further information may be found at http://www.branfiber.net 4.3 Mesa Lab Refurbishment A design has been selected for the refurbishment of the Mesa Lab Tree Plaza. Detailed design is underway and construction will begin this summer. We are taking steps to consult experts on energy conservation to ensure that we are able to make the Mesa Lab as energy efficient as we can, given the fiscal constraints. 4.4 Office Space The demand for office and lab space at the Mesa Lab and Foothills campuses has increased to the point that we had to find additional space. We found rental space on East Pearl Street that will meet our needs for the near term. The majority of Finance and Administration will move to the Pearl Street offices in February or March of this year, freeing up considerable space at Foothills for the NCAR divisions, UOP programs and for "swing" space needed during the rewiring of FL-1, 2, and 3. 4.4 Audited Financial Statements Deloitte and Touche has completed their annual audit or the UCAR financial statement, once again giving us a "clean" opinion with no reportable deficiencies. The annual audit is, in effect, an assessment of the adequacy of our accounting procedures and internal controls and a "snapshot" of our financial health. The outcome of the annual audit is critical both in terms of our continuing to receive federal funding and also our ability to borrow money at a low interest rate. 4.5 Indirect Rate Development We are in the process of developing our indirect rate submission for FY 2001. The submission is due to the NSF by March 31, 2000. On the advice of the Audit and Finance Committee, we explored with NSF the possibility of multiyear rates. NSF has determined that they will not consider multiyear rates for us at this time. 5.0 Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research and Science (SOARS™ ) SOARS protégés are encouraged to present papers and posters of their summer research projects at regional and national conferences. During the 1999 fall semester, several proteges presented papers or posters. Protégés Samuel Ajayi, Kanika Benton, Andrew Church, Michelle Dunn, Rynda Hudman, Amanda Szymczak, Sarah Tessendorf, and Waleska Rivera Rios received NSF travel awards to attend and present posters of their summer research projects at the 1999 Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) National Conference, Portland, OR. During the conference these protégés had the pleasure of meeting NSF Director, Rita Colwell (see photo below).
SOARS protégés Michelle Dunn, Zobeida Ocasio Santiago, and Waleska Rivera Rios presented their summer research papers at the 10th Model Institution for Excellence Student Symposium at the Universidad Metropolitana, San Juan, PR. Chris Castro presented papers based on his graduate school research project at the 24th Climate Diagnostics and Prediction Workshop, Tucson, AZ, and at the 80th AMS Annual Meeting, Long Beach, CA. Two protégés, Andy Church and Preston Heard were co-authors with their NCAR scientific mentors Mary Barth and Ben Felzer: Barth and Church, 1999: Regional and global distributions and lifetimes of sulfate aerosols from Mexico City and China. J. Geophys. Res., 104, 30,231-30,239 and Felzer and Heard, 1999: Precipitation differences amongst GCMs used for the National Assessment. J. American Water Resources Assoc., 35, 1327-1339. Throughout the AMS Annual Meeting, SOARS protégé Jonathan Vigh was recognized for having been awarded an AMS Undergraduate Fellowship. Sharon Perez Suarez, presented her SOARS summer research project at a poster session for the 1999 AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA. The High Hopes video, funded with an NSF GEO education grant and featuring several SOARS protégés, has been completed and will be shown in the lobby area at the board meeting. Please take some time to view this excellent program that will be used in middle and high school classrooms to encourage students to think about advanced studies in the atmospheric sciences. This fall, SOARS protégés and staff published Earth, Wind, Sea, and Sky: Protégé Essays. This compilation documents the high quality of research and the outstanding support protégés receive from our SOARS sponsoring agencies, UCAR staff who volunteer to serve as mentors, and the university community. Copies of Earth, Wind, Sea, and Sky were mailed to UCAR trustees, sponsors, representatives of the university community, and others. 6.0 Intellectual Property, UCAR Foundation and WITI Corporation Listed below is information related to patents and copyrights, current licensing activities, and the business activities of the UCAR Foundation’s for-profit subsidiary, WITI Corporation. This information represents an update of the information provided in the October 1999 report. To date, the Intellectual Property Management Program has logged 297 technology disclosures for intellectual property protection, evaluation, and potential commercialization. Since October 1999, one patent has been issued: Enhanced Microburst Detection System, by Larry Cornman et al. (RAP); and one patent application was filed: Hot Plate Frozen Precipitation Accumulation Alert System, by Roy Rasmussen et al. (RAP). The UCAR Foundation (UCARF) continues to focus on the commercialization of UCAR technologies through licensing. In FY99, the UCAR Foundation generated $217,186 in licensing revenue, 90% of which will be returned to the NCAR divisions and UOP programs that developed the technology that generated the revenue. WITI Corporation has successfully completed the first phase of a four phase software development contract to provide automated weather forecasting for an international media company. Phase 2 is almost complete and is on target for successful completion within budget and on schedule. WITI’s WeatherWindow product suite is now available on WITI's web site at www.weatherwindow.com . Users of this site can pull up weather forecasts for thousands of U.S. cities and register to receive email messages with severe weather alerts, parameter alerts and forecasts for user-defined locations. These messages are sent to PCs, wireless phones and pagers. WITI is engaged in negotiations to distribute WeatherWindow products in cooperation with commercial partners in several vertical markets, and is also working to enhance the delivery of WeatherWindow products to a wider variety of wired and wireless devices. WITI is currently seeking outside financing to fund an expansion of its WeatherWindow business. END OF REPORT - Appendix
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